Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has announced an initiative to encourage oil and other mineral-extracting firms to open their accounts to scrutiny.
"The fight against corruption must be relentless and continuous because the forces of corruption are determined forces," he said during a visit to Germany.
The simple and direct idea is that Nigerian companies will reveal how much investment they have received from foreign partners, while the foreign partners will publish how much they have paid.
Fittingly Obasanjo announced the initiative at a news conference organised by global corruption watchdog Transparency International, which recently listed Nigeria as the second most corrupt nation in the world behind Bangladesh.
Earlier this month the President sacked the managing director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
Jackson Gaius-Obaseki had been appointed group managing director of the NNPC after Obasanjo won a four-year Presidential term in 1999. He has now been replaced with Funso Kupolokun, the former special assistant to Obasanjo on petroleum industry matters.
Public calls for Gaius-Obaseki's sacking had reached a crescendo after he admitted that the NNPC had spent 224 million naira ($US1.7 million) to maintain two suites at the luxurious Abuja Hilton Hotel for him in the past four years.
The somewhat naïve chief further outraged the populous by declaring that staying in the hotel was a sacrifice he had to make for the nation as the expended amount was inadequate to build him befitting accommodation.
Support for reform in Nigeria has also come from global giant ChevronTexaco, which has backed the President's commitment to publish a number of key government financial indicators, including revenues received from the oil and gas sector.
With this commitment, Nigeria becomes the first nation to officially participate in the "Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative," which UK Prime Minister Tony Blair launched, with ChevronTexaco's support, in June 2003.
"As a company with a long history of operations in Nigeria, we are fully supportive of the President's bold move to tackle such a difficult issue as transparency and good governance," said ChevronTexaco chairman Dave O'Reilly.
" This announcement is fully in line with what we have long believed and called for, that efforts to address the management of oil revenues be led by affected governments, not imposed on them by others."
